FORT MYERS, Fla. — Fort Myers is planning ahead for growth along the State Road 82 and Forum Boulevard corridor by investing $87,616 in traffic signal improvements and road design. The project stems from a developer agreement for future construction on nearby property, with city officials focusing on creating efficient traffic flow before congestion becomes a problem.
"As we go through in a period of time, sometime back, a developer agreement was done with the property on the other side in that developer agreement, we agreed, as a city, to put the fourth leg of a traffic signal in here," said Peter Bieniek, Director of Public Works for Fort Myers.
Watch Fort Myers Community Correspondent Miyoshi Price's report:
The current intersection only has traffic signals for vehicles traveling on SR 82 and those coming from MLK Boulevard. The planned improvements will add a fourth leg to the traffic signal system where new development is expected.
Planned improvements include:
- Addition of a fourth traffic signal leg at the intersection
- Potential second northbound left turn lane on Forum Boulevard approaching SR 82 (yet to be determine)
- New street lighting to improve visibility and safety
- Relocation of street light poles from the median to outside curbs
- Possible replacement of existing mast arm structures to accommodate new signal heads
The exact location of new turn lanes hasn't been determined yet, as engineers need to study traffic patterns and turning movements before finalizing designs.
"In order to do that, we have to be engaged with a design engineer, a traffic design engineer, who will design the actual fourth leg," Bieniek explained. "If you notice, you don't have a light to come across from that road here, you only have the ones that go this way and coming from MLK, so the fourth leg will be designed at the same time, because the traffic patterns are going to change, and you're going to intermix other traffic coming to coming from over there."
Design process and timeline:
The city hired a company called TR Transportation Consultants to make plans for the new traffic lights and roads. These experts will need about 6 months (180 days) to finish their work. They need this much time because they have to carefully study how cars move through the intersection currently and make informed guesses about how many more cars will use the roads once new buildings are built nearby.
"That's why it's 180 days. It takes a little bit of time to figure out how many vehicles are going to come in. What could the potential traffic pattern be from the other side?" Bieniek said.
The design process includes:
- Collecting survey data on Forum Boulevard
- Preparing 60% traffic signal modification plans
- Conducting intersection lighting analysis
- Submitting plans to FDOT, City of Fort Myers and Lee County DOT for review
- Preparing 100% plans based on review comments
- Creating final technical specifications and contract documents
After the design work is complete, the city will create a bid package for construction companies to compete for the project.
Taxpayer investment:
The $87,616 taxpayer investment breaks down into several components:
- $23,267 for 60% traffic signal modification plans
- $20,060 for 100% traffic signal modification plans
- $1,261 for meetings and data collection
- $3,528 for photometric plan
- $9,500 for the collection of survey data
- $30,000 for design plans for dual left-turn lanes
Bieniek emphasized that this proactive approach is necessary to ensure efficient traffic flow.
"We have to do those type of designs, because otherwise we're if we don't do them, we can throw something up and it may not work," he said. "We're thinking futuristic with tax dollars."
By investing in proper design work now, the city aims to create an intersection that will efficiently handle increased traffic volumes once development begins in the area.
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